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Volume 5 Issue 1 (January, 2017)

Original Articles

PREVALENCE OF ROOT CARIES AND PERIODONTAL DISEASES IN ADULT AND OLDER PEOPLE RESIDING IN IMADOL, LALITPUR, NEPAL
Ujjwal Joshi, Sijan Poudyal, Megha Pradhan, Reema Joshi

Background: Increased life expectancy and improved oral health conditions may increase in the number of adults and the elderly with higher proportions of preserved or retained teeth and, subsequently, greater exposure to periodontal disease and root caries. Till to date and to our knowledge, the data for root caries for elder population is not obtained for Nepalese population. Thus the aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of periodontal status and root caries in adults and elder people of Imadole, Lalitpur, Nepal. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among the conventional sample of 102 people of 35 years and above attending oral health screening camp. Periodontal status was recorded using Russell’s Periodontal Index (Russell A. L. 1956) with the help of mouth mirror and non calibrated periodontal probe. Root caries was recorded using Root Caries Index (Ralph V Katz in 1979) with mouth mirror and dental explorer. Results: The mean number of teeth with gingival recession per subject was 10±7.06. The mean RCI score was 6.49±16.42 (range 0-80). The prevalence of root caries was 25.88%. Maximum number of the participants had established destructive periodontal disease (n=46, 45.1%) while only few numbers of the participants had clinically normal supportive tissues (n=7, 6.9%).  Tobacco users had more periodontal disease than non tobacco user. Conclusion: High prevalence rates of root caries have been observed among older adults in recent times. The data on root caries prevalence obtained in this study will serve as a reference for further studies.
Key words: Periodontal Disease, Russell’s Periodontal Index, Root Caries, Root Caries Index.

 
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